Sir

I have received by the hands of an officer your letter of the 18^th. Instant, in return to mine of the 15^th. and am sorry to say, that your answer is little satisfactory in so much that you have granted only part of my demand, in consenting to give up part of the British Property, and you have given no answer to my proposal of the other part of the property, being deposited with your Excellency, till the pleasure of your Court is known. It was not necessary for your Excellency, to point out to me the Article of the Treaty of Peace respecting the limits of this Country, as I was before fully instructed on that head.

You have also been pleased to alter your Sentiments with regard to the Privileges of the River Mississippi, expressed in your Correspondence with Capt^n. Lloyd; perhaps you may be right, but that is a point, I will not take upon me to determine. I will only beg leave to remind you of what you observed to the above Gent[leman] on the same Subject in your Letter of the 26^th. April 1777,¹ you say that we ought mutually to preserve respect for the Territories of both King's—Had your Excellency observed that rule, you would not have permitted the British Ship called the Rebecca, to have been taken within Musquit shot of Fort S^t. Gabriel, belonging to his Catholic Majesty, and under your command. I will again repeat to your Excellency, what I have before advanced, that you have admitted into your Government a Body of Armed Men, Enemies to the King my Master, & suffered them from thence to make War against his Subjects, & seize their property in the Mississippi, which you allow only to be free to Great Britain & Spain.

Now I will ask your Excellency, how it is possible for me to discriminate between the Subjects of Spain, & the Enemies of Great Britain, as they are so intermixed between, and enjoy the same protection under your Government. You have been pleased to say, that the Treaties of Peace, and the privileges of your Government have been often violated by British Men of War; if so, your Excellency certainly knew where to seek for redress; and you cannot think me responsible for the faults of others, or that I will give up ajust claim on such assertions, no, I will firmly adhere to my demand and if you think it a point of too much importance to be settled between you & me, it must be determined by our respective Courts. I will again urge that whatever part [of] the British Property, now in question, you think yourself not at liberty to restore, may remain deposited with your Excellency, till the pleasure of your Court is known.

I cannot help feeling for the great distress of my fellow Subjects, now in your Province, and I am exceedingly alarmed for the consequences, that may attend the measures, that you have adopted, & seem now to pursue against them, measures that I am apprehensive will eventually draw upon your Country the Calamities of War. I have the satisfaction to say that since my Arrival in this River I have most scrupulously kept inviolate the Treaties of Peace, now subsisting between our Nations if you have done so, it remains hereafter to be determined, & most certainly your Excellency will be answerable for the consequences.

In my last letter to your Excellency, I mentioned my ultimate resolution respecting a salute & visit.

I must now advance a few words, in answer to what you say, is customary in the Ports of Europe where Loyalists and British American Rebel Subjects are equally received; I agree with you, that such revolted Subjects have been received in several parts of Europe, but I averr, that they have never been permitted to land in Arms, in The Territories of any Prince or Potentate in Europe, and from thence to commit hostilities against the Liege Subjects of His Britannic Majesty either in the Harbours of such Prince & Potentates, or within Gun-Shot of their Coasts. I will farther Acknowledge, that British Ships and Vessels have been taken at sea by American Privateers and carried into different Ports of Eurpope, where they have been introduced as American property, and sold by private sale, but when timely information was given to the British Ministers, they have been constantly claimed, and upon their Owners proving their property have been delivered up to them, and I have no reason to doubt, that the SameJustice will be done in America when timely application is made in the name of His Britannic Majesty.

I am now to conclude having advanced every argument, that a sense of my duty, humanity and love to Justice can suggest to me, and I hope that your Excellency is actuated by the same sentiments, and that you will admit the Justice of my claim: To which your definitive answer is requested. I have the honor to be [&c.]